It’s whale time of the year, and many people have been sharing incredible footage of the different whale species along the coast. In Mossel Bay, photographer Christiaan Stopforth of Drone Fanatics SA snapped an unusual sighting of a southern right mother with a brindle calf.
According to Whale Watch SA, brindle colouration is present at birth in only about 4% of all southern right whales. This is a white colouration different from albinism, and about 94% of these individuals are males, as the genes of this colouration pattern are on the sex chromosome, Stopforth added, quoting Dr Els Vermeulen, research manager of the Whale Unit at the University of Pretoria. The colouration is likely to turn grey as the calves get older.
Take a look:
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